Ready for an Adventure
by Kalira69
Summary: All through growing up together Shiro and Keith have longed to explore what lies beyond the borders of their home forests. Now they are finally making preparations for just such a journey. (Fantasy AU; Nature's Children series, #1)


This is in the same fantasy AU as Wild Things, which I posted during Sheith Month, although this is much earlier chronologically. I didn't really intend to write more of this AU when I wrote/posted Wild Things, but my knack for and love of worldbuilding bit me again it seems. (Several people had also asked for more of this, or if there would be any more. I hope you're pleased!)

I actually finished this a month ago, but it's been . . . a rollercoaster of a month and I haven't had laptop access/time/mental energy to edit it and post it until now.

* * *

"You're going out beyond the borders, beyond our _forest_ . . . and you're determined?"

Shiro nodded firmly, meeting the elder's gaze without quailing. He hadn't actually intended to have this discussion but it wasn't as though he could simply _refuse_ to speak with one of the elders when requested - that would be horrendously rude.

"Why? What would drive you to do such a dangerous thing?" Varsa asked, frowning slightly, her soft sky blue eyes showing concern but still sharp as ever she'd been said to be.

"I want to _see_." Shiro said honestly. "I want to see all the things that I can, to speak to plants far off, to-" He broke off, gesturing vaguely. "I love our forest, but there are many more things in the world, and I would learn them with my own hands, my own senses, not merely from tales and books."

Varsa actually smiled at him, ever so slightly. "Brave youngling." she said, a little wryly. "I recall you once said you wished to go far beyond our home forests and speak to strange places. You never lost that drive, have you?"

Shiro ducked his head and grinned. "No, Elder."

"It is well, to travel and learn." Varsa allowed with a gentle incline of her head. "Will you go alone, however? It is not safe." Not that their own forests were always _safe_ , precisely, but an elf running here had the trees that had been home to their tribe for millennia all around them, the creatures that grew and lived and coexisted with them nearby, the rest of their tribe never _too_ far away.

"I will not go alone." Shiro said, frowning slightly. "I will never go alone, wherever I go." he added with confidence, a warm smile tugging at his lips.

"Oh? Who travels with you?" Varsa inquired, eyeing him curiously. "I had thought none other of your peers retained any such desire to roam. Perhaps unfortunate."

Shiro smiled at the soft comment, a little pleased with the elder's apparent approval, even if she was concerned for him. "Not an elf." he said, shaking his head. Varsa raised an eyebrow and he smiled a little wider, setting his jaw. "My best friend is a wolf."

Both of Varsa's brows rose this time, but she only gave a soft hum of understanding. Shiro was only surprised - a little - that she hadn't already known that, guessed that Keith would be his companion. He knew they had been talked about amongst the older elves since, as an elfling, he had found the whip-thin, starving, lonely cub. Not for the finding, nor even for the determination he'd had to help Keith, but because the two of them had stayed together, stayed close, ever since, even as they grew older.

"Be safe on your ventures, young one." Varsa said, resting a hand on his shoulder, then closing her eyes for a moment - they were vibrant when they opened, glowing like the brightest summer sky - and touching his brow. Shiro shivered as he felt the magic roll over him, but held still as she dropped her hand. "Both of you. Travel well."

"Thank you, Elder." Shiro bowed his head, and she smiled as the light faded from her eyes, gesturing to release him from his polite attendance on her. Shiro took up the basket full of items he had come to the trading square to acquire and headed away, still shivery with the feeling of the magic Varsa had channelled and buoyed by the approval offered of both his venture and his companion.

It had been many years since Shiro had found Keith, but neither of them had any wish to ever leave one another, and travelling, _exploring_ was something they both found desperately interesting. Especially- As long as they could go together.

Shiro was still young but long grown now, and Keith was still small, but ragged fur and sinewy limbs showing too much of the bones beneath had given way to a shaggy, glossy coat and a leanly powerful frame. Even as a cub he had flourished with little need for _tending_ , only companionship, and perhaps a little help.

When he had first grown a little stronger - no longer so hungry, strong enough to run and hunt without help - the other wolves had come to him, offered to take him, the ones who lived nearest the elven settlements.

Keith had snapped his fangs and turned his back. He'd grown somewhat more politic as he grew older but still he stayed ever by Shiro's side rather than seeking out the pack. Though Shiro had friends among his elven peers, he had never felt the need for another at his side any more than Keith. They shared affection and devotion for each other, and shared a passion for something they both wished to spend their lives doing.

Why would Shiro ever need or want for another companion?

He slipped through the trees with a whisper and a brush of fingers for those that offered warm greetings. This path, the way to his home, his _den_ \- Shiro laughed softly - from the closest settlement was a familiar one, and Shiro could have run it blindfolded even without the gentle murmurs from the friendliest of the trees and the earth to guide him.

He grinned as he came into view of home and saw a deeper patch stretched out amidst the dappled shadows on the lowest platform open to the forest. Keith raised his head, ears perking forwards as he looked at Shiro. There was the body of a young stag on the mossy rocks below, neck neatly broken.

Shiro left his basket near it - left his own provisioning alongside Keith's, he thought with an amused huff - and swung himself lightly up to the level where Keith waited. He rose to his paws and trotted to meet Shiro. He bounded up with one foreleg settling across Shiro's hip and tucked his muzzle along Shiro's collarbone as Shiro drove one hand into his thick ruff and reached to rub his side with the other.

Shiro froze and Keith went still as the shivery feeling of the magic the elder had channelled returned and flared under Shiro's skin, flowing in an infinity loop over Keith and back to himself, then settling with a feeling that was almost a _snap_. Keith whined softly, ears folding back, and Shiro grabbed his ruff a little harder, settling a bit abruptly onto the wood with one leg folded under him, the other propped in front of him, and a little too much wolf spilling into his lap.

"One of the elders spoke to me about our trip." Shiro said faintly, rubbing his face against Keith's, grounding himself. "She gave her approval and her best wishes and . . . apparently more." His voice wasn't quite right yet.

Keith tipped his head and gave Shiro's jaw and cheek a feathery lick. He smiled reflexively, closing his eyes and turning his face in against Keith. A gentle nudge and he let himself sink backwards to lie on the boards, looking up at the canopy and the upper levels of home, the slightest bits of sky visible between leaves and supports.

"Think we're ready, love?" Shiro asked, and Keith whuffed in his face, lying down at his side, slim forelegs folding across his bicep. "Yes. . . I can't wait." he admitted, a thrill of nerves and anticipation lighting through him. He curled one arm around Keith's ribs, and he shifted, letting himself settle more fully into the space against Shiro's side, nosing his wrist affectionately.

They couldn't leave now - they weren't fully prepared yet, and they needed to put some work into both their home and the tree that held it first, settling it to be left empty - but . . . soon. Shiro smiled up at the canopy and hugged Keith a little tighter.

Keith snuggled into his arm and turned a little, his head tucking neatly against Shiro's throat and jaw. He made a soft contented sound and Shiro closed his eyes, humming quietly in response.


End file.
